I'm thinking about holding out on doing the right side cover seals and the oil pump leak stoppers and the PG until after I get it running when I have to change the oil again anyway.

Getting antsy

Quote:

I know what you mean about antsy. You really gonna want to pull the cover off again after its all together? Its out now, just go ahead and get it all done. Then ride ride ride ride.

I agree. Driveshaft and shifter shaft are easy to do afterwards, but decompression seal on the rocker box cover and the clutch actuator lever seals are a must-replace-before-engine installation item as far as I am concerned. All the seals at once! Save yourself the trouble!

hey all,
joined Advrider beacuse im looking at a 83 xl600 soon that a friend of the family has and would like to get more into adv. riding. So how is the xl on long rides loaded up. What bags do you use hard or soft? any pics of your bikes loaded up? thanks

Really excited about this thread! I would of never guessed that there would be a thread for this awesome bike!!

I do not own one, wish I did! I will post my bike soon (TW 200). My buddy has one that I am in love with! Here is the crazy story of last sunday's events!!!

My buddy had his bike in front of his house in New Orleans for far too long (this is a really greasy city, not in a good way)! Someone drove a screw driver into the ignition trying to steal it. This gave my really busy friend even more delay for moving the bike (he just had a baby). It also gave the slime balls who attempted to steal it time to brain storm.....

Last saturday night my friend and I were chatting on the phone. "We need to move the bike" he said. I agreed "ya man! I've been saying that ever since I got to town! lets do it tomorrow!" He agreed. 6 hours later, at 6 am, his neighbors wife came banging on the door... "someone is taking your bike!!" My bud totally Redlined................ Out the door in a flash in his boxers... In front of his house he saw a Uhaul truck with his XL 600 half way up the ramp dragged on its side. Handle bars locked, chain on the rear tire. Full speed my bud charged the truck with one thing on his mind..."gotta stop that trucK!!!!" as the truck floored it, my bud ran so fast that his legs came out from under him. As the truck sped away, he laid there in defeat, in his skippys, with road rash on his hand, knees and on the tops of his feet! bad rash, like chunks of skin missing, like he feel from a moving bike! (I think he blacked out and actually grabbed the truck and was dragged.

Anyway, he lay there in defeat, and looked behind him. There in the middle of the road, his XL awaited him. He told his girl that he didn't want to tell me because he knew I would be pissed. I reacted totally the opposite! I knew that it was a win! That we still had the bike!! And immediately brought it to our shop and fixed it up.

I told this story for one reason... to lead up to the missing part... the Seat! The F>>KER trying to steal the bike took the seat and whipped it into his Uhaul before he tried to load it!

Is there anybody out there with a XL 600 Seat? They are extremely hard to find! His is an 85, so the blue one.

hey all,
joined Advrider beacuse im looking at a 83 xl600 soon that a friend of the family has and would like to get more into adv. riding. So how is the xl on long rides loaded up. What bags do you use hard or soft? any pics of your bikes loaded up? thanks

I put a sidecar chassis on mine with a couple of large ammo boxes bolted to it.

__________________
If you see me coming, better step aside. A lot of men didn't, a lot of men died, all because of my shit brakes.

Really excited about this thread! I would of never guessed that there would be a thread for this awesome bike!!

I do not own one, wish I did! I will post my bike soon (TW 200). My buddy has one that I am in love with! Here is the crazy story of last sunday's events!!!

My buddy had his bike in front of his house in New Orleans for far too long (this is a really greasy city, not in a good way)! Someone drove a screw driver into the ignition trying to steal it. This gave my really busy friend even more delay for moving the bike (he just had a baby). It also gave the slime balls who attempted to steal it time to brain storm.....

Last saturday night my friend and I were chatting on the phone. "We need to move the bike" he said. I agreed "ya man! I've been saying that ever since I got to town! lets do it tomorrow!" He agreed. 6 hours later, at 6 am, his neighbors wife came banging on the door... "someone is taking your bike!!" My bud totally Redlined................ Out the door in a flash in his boxers... In front of his house he saw a Uhaul truck with his XL 600 half way up the ramp dragged on its side. Handle bars locked, chain on the rear tire. Full speed my bud charged the truck with one thing on his mind..."gotta stop that trucK!!!!" as the truck floored it, my bud ran so fast that his legs came out from under him. As the truck sped away, he laid there in defeat, in his skippys, with road rash on his hand, knees and on the tops of his feet! bad rash, like chunks of skin missing, like he feel from a moving bike! (I think he blacked out and actually grabbed the truck and was dragged.

Anyway, he lay there in defeat, and looked behind him. There in the middle of the road, his XL awaited him. He told his girl that he didn't want to tell me because he knew I would be pissed. I reacted totally the opposite! I knew that it was a win! That we still had the bike!! And immediately brought it to our shop and fixed it up.

I told this story for one reason... to lead up to the missing part... the Seat! The F>>KER trying to steal the bike took the seat and whipped it into his Uhaul before he tried to load it!

Is there anybody out there with a XL 600 Seat? They are extremely hard to find! His is an 85, so the blue one.

hey all,
joined Advrider beacuse im looking at a 83 xl600 soon that a friend of the family has and would like to get more into adv. riding. So how is the xl on long rides loaded up. What bags do you use hard or soft? any pics of your bikes loaded up? thanks

I used to ride mine across the state (about 4 hours near wide open throttle) fully loaded. I didn't have saddlebags, so I strapped duffel bags to the rear rack. The rack isn't rated for that much weight, so I also ran straps from the rack to the frame under the seat to keep it from bending. To keep the duffel bags from sagging into the exhaust, I layed a piece of plywood along the inside bottom of the bag. Once stuffed full, they became pretty rigid. You can sdjust the preload for the added weight.

At the time, I had a 44 tooth (or was it 45?) rear sprocket for a little better highway gearing. The bike seemed to like rpms about 80% of redine, but would sustain 90% OK. Top speed on mine was about 85-90 mph. In the heat of summer (115 F) the oil temperature would continue to climb, and I would pull off to let it cool after riding at 75 mph for 2 hours or so. It is ready to go after a pee break, so no big deal. XR's Only sells an oil temperature dipstick that lets you monitor that, and is worth every penny.

In summary, the XL does just fine riding solo on long trips, but lacks the capacity to travel long distance with a passenger. As long as total load is less than the weight of the bike, you'll be fine.

It is a genuine Honda tank fitted to the XL600LMF (PD04) and the seat is slightly different, it has a wider nose at a different angle of attack.

Since you're a legitimate European I wonder if you could answer this question. Did all the XL600R PD03 (or the XL600RM I think) bikes come with the bigger 43mm forks? I ask this because I'm trying to buy a fork yolk set from one so I can run the 43mm XR600R forks and still have the headlight and ignition mounts.